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A lever-action rifle is a repeating rifle or carbine that uses a lever to cycle the action. This "figure-eight" shaped lever, which is typically integral to the trigger guard, cycles the breech bolt rearward in the receiver when rotated downward and forward. As the breech bolt moves rearward, an attached extractor pulls the spent cartridge from the chamber and an extractor propels the empty cartridge either from the top of the receiver or through a port on the side. As this occurs, an unfired cartridge is pushed from a magazine by a spring-loaded follower and presented to the carrier assembly that will then lift the new cartridge up in line with the breech bolt to be chambered when the lever is pulled rearward and upward to lock the action. The rearward motion of the breech bolt cocks the hammer and engages the sear in the trigger, preparing the firearm to fire.

Once fired, the cycle can be repeated as fast as the shooter can cycle the lever until the magazine is emptied. Magazines on lever-action rifles are typically tubular magazines slung under the barrel or sometimes fed through the buttstock, but can be box or integral box magazines mounted directly under the action. Tube magazines can be fed from a loading gate on the side of the receiver, or from the end of the magazine accessed by removing the follower or end cap. Sights on most lever-action rifles tend to be buckhorn or semi-buckhorn, but more accurate aperture sights can also be used. Optics can be mounted on side-eject lever-action rifles directly over the bore-line, but top-eject rifles necessitate off-bore mounting to allow the action to properly eject a spent cartridge without interference from the scope or optic.

Lever-action rifle stocks can be found in pistol grip style, or straight ("English") style. Fore-ends are typically short, leaving the barrel and tube magazine uncovered for a fair portion of their length. Carbine length rifles are common, with barrel lengths from around 18 to 24 inches, while rifle length barrels can range over 30 inches. Lever-action rifles are normally light by comparison to other rifles of similar caliber, are well balanced and often used for hunting in woods, brush on and open range.

Calibers chambered by lever-action rifles vary widely. Pistol cartridge calibers are often seen, with a corresponding increase in magazine capacity due to the smaller cartridge size, as well as higher-velocity rifle cartridges. Calibers from .22 long rifle up to .45-70 are common, allowing lever-action rifles to be used for hunting anything from small game to dangerous big game. Lever-action rifles are uncommon as military firearms, primarily due the need to fire prone and the lever needing reasonable clearance to cycle the action, as well as the necessity of using non-spitzer pointed bullets in a tube magazine, although lever-action rifles with box magazine solve this problem.

The rusty lever-action rifle is a weather worn rifle in Fallout Shelter that uses a lever to load cartridges into the barrel's chamber for firing. Dealing a minimum of 4 damage per attack, it has the second lowest damage output for a rifle in the game.